A typical mass-production arrangement for manufacturing health-care, disposable, absorbent products includes an assembly line where the various components of the absorbent product are progressively combined and laminated into a continuous web which is cut transversely into discrete absorbent products.
This process is well-suited for disposable absorbent products with a periphery designed around a simple geometric figure, such as a rectangle with rounded ends. The plain side edge design of such products does not require trimming to finish the lateral edges of the absorbent products, whereby the process may be carried out without producing an inordinate amount of waste material.
To enhance the functionality of disposable absorbent products, manufacturers are now designing products with complex and sophisticated countour lines. For example, sanitary napkins have recently appeared on the market, provided with side flaps or winglets which create fastening points for the sanitary napkin on the garment facing side of the wearer's underpants. With traditional manufacturing techniques, extensive trimming is required to produce the highly irregular side edge contour of the sanitary napkin which necessarily generates a considerable amount of waste material. As a result, the manufacturing cost of the sanitary napkin increases because the starting material is used less efficiently and waste management facilities are required. Further, concurrent reduction in materials required for manufacture and reduction in waste materials requiring disposal present environmental advantages in terms of conservation of resources and reduction in waste disposal.
An object of the invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for producing a layer of a laminated, disposable absorbent product with a highly irregular contour, such as the fluid-permeable cover layer, the absorbent core layer or the fluid-impervious backing layer, with a comparatively small amount of useless by-products.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for manufacturing a laminated, disposable absorbent product having a highly irregular contour, with a comparatively small amount of useless by-products.
Another object of the invention is a compound layer for a laminated, disposable absorbent product, such as the fluid-permeable cover layer, the absorbent core layer or the fluid-impervious backing layer, having an arrangement of parts to permit manufacturing of the compound layer with a comparatively small amount of useless by-products.
Yet, another object of the invention is a laminated, disposable absorbent product with a structure which allows manufacture of absorbent product with a comparatively small amount of useless by-products.